Member for Parkes Mark Coulton says he doesn't support Dubbo Regional Council's plan to give regional businesses free postage.
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Mr Coulton said more focus needed to be on the positives of Dubbo and not the struggling businesses.
In the lead up to Christmas, council offered to pay the postage for select small businesses. The businesses saved a total of $7268.
It led to mayor Ben Shields calling for the project to be extended. He wants the federal government to implement a free postage program for all regional businesses.
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But Mr Coulton said he "was not inclined to go down the path of subsidised postage".
"I would be more inclined to talk up the strength of Dubbo because the real aim we have in the long term, particularly if the drought breaks, is an enormous opportunity for employment in Orana and the region," he said.
"We've got to be talking up the positives of living in Dubbo, not highlighting what might be a negative. I'm not denying there are problems [in Dubbo], but we need to balance up with the enormous opportunities."
Dubbo's level of unemployment has risen from 2.2 per cent to three per cent, but Mr Coulton said it was still far lower than the national average.
He said Dubbo had a lot of incomes that were not drought related, from the mining industry to the health sector.
Despite his view, Mr Coulton said he did contact the responsible minister to pass along the request from council. He has yet to get a response.
Cr Shields said the free postage plan was his way of helping businesses in Dubbo and Wellington compete worldwide.
"The thing I like about this idea is that it's not just writing a cheque for $1000 for everyone and hoping for the best, it's saying to local businesses, 'here's a hand up, not a handout'. It's deigned to keep them working," he said.
The mayor said it was a "no-brainer" for the government to back the plan.
"When we did it we were inundated, we couldn't keep up. It was more popular than what we thought. We totally blew the budget," Cr Shields said.
"If they were to come in and do this it would be a big fight back to Amazon and a big fight back to ebay, all the guys that are just ravaging the local retailers at the moment."
The Dubbo councillors were in unanimous support of the free postage idea.
Orlander Ruming
Deputy editor at the Daily Liberal, covering council, politics, human interest stories, community news and everything in between.
Deputy editor at the Daily Liberal, covering council, politics, human interest stories, community news and everything in between.
